rabbits feet, eggs and easter

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“Like the Easter egg, the Easter hare, now an accepted part of the Easter story, came to Christianity from antiquity. The hare is associated with the moon in the legends of ancient Egypt and other peoples. It belongs to the night, since it comes out only then to feed. It is born with its eyes open and, like the moon, is the ‘open-eyed watcher of the skies.’”

–

Britannica

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Ok. Happy Easter.

The big question of the day.

Why do we believe these slightly absurd stories of a mysterious Easter Bunny that delivers colored eggs <sometimes really well designed which implies it takes more than one night to do> in the night so that people can find them by scrounging around outside the next morning?

I think I have to start with rabbits.

Mostly because every Easter we have a bunch of pissed off rabbits hopping around on three legs watching as we eat all the eggs they spent a shitload of time coloring.

Rabbits have always been considered lucky because they were associated with spring and the return of flowers and other plants. Spring is also a time of fertility <and god knows … rabbits are certainly ‘fertile’> therefore rabbits were considered good luck to be seen running through the fields.

In Western Europe during the ‘B.C. years’ people considered rabbits to be sacred partly because of the belief that spirits inhabited the bodies of animals. Later ancient European Celts adopted portions of the older belief, that rabbits were sacred, and that spirits inhabited their bodies.

Interestingly … because rabbits spent an inordinate amount of time in their underground burrows combined with the belief that the rabbits’ bodies were inhabited by numina <underground spirits with whom they communicated> people believed they were even more sacred because of their close proximity to the spirits. Another reason the Celts held the rabbit to be sacred was because of their prowess in the field of reproduction. They believed that the numina intended for rabbits to be put upon pedestals and revered as symbols of procreation, reproduction with a high turnover rate, of health, and of prosperity.

Ok.

The foot thing.

Since the rabbit itself was considered to be lucky I imagine it is not a huge leap to believe that any of its body parts would also be considered lucky. Ah. It is actually the way rabbits run which gave birth to the superstition about rabbit’s feet. Apparently their unusual stride makes the back feet touch the ground ahead of their front feet and so the back feet were considered especially lucky <I do not really understand his logic but it is in print so it must be true>.

For some odd reason <which I cannot discover any reason why> it was actually only the left hind foot of the rabbit that was considered lucky. And if you were lucky enough to have a left hind foot you had to rub it to activate the luck believing it was a source of protective magic in addition to bringing good fortune. People started carrying the rabbit’s foot around for good luck … because of its capacity to dry quickly, its small size, and the fact that it made a great key chain.

Ah.

But luck didn’t come without some stipulations. For luck to occur the original owner must give their rabbit’s foot away and it would be the receiver of the gift that would also be the recipient of the good fortune. If the owner kept the foot for himself, he would be visited by bad luck. In addition … if the recipient of the rabbit’s foot lost his lucky charm he would also be visited with bad luck.

Now.

The eggs. What’s up with eggs and rabbits?

<because I, personally, tend to associate carrots with rabbits>

All I really know is that ancient Egyptians, in one of their creation myths, believed the universe was created from an enormous egg <oh … those wacky Egyptians>. Wow.

Here is a thought. Maybe rabbits are really ancient Egyptians and they deliver their universe to us every Easter? That’s the best I can come up with.

It also makes me think of this.

If you are a romantic, maybe give your loved one a hard boiled egg and say ‘you are my universe’ <does anyone ever wonder why I am still single?>.

Anyway. She will either adore you for the rest of your life or you will end up with an egg shoved up your ass.

Ah. But better to have some response than none at all I say.

Lastly.

Other superstitions for Rabbits <which …after you read … will encourage you to simply avoid rabbits>:

I will begin with the good ones …

It is good luck for a rabbit to cross your path

Saying “white rabbits” on the first of each month or on the first day of a new moon will bring good luck

Wearing rabbit-skin socks protects against pleurisy

A child who eats rabbit brains will improve his or her behavior <insert “yikes” here>

Good being relative as you can see. And the bad …

Seeing a white rabbit is a death omen

Seeing a black rabbit is unlucky

Seeing a rabbit on the way to work is unlucky

If you dream about a rabbit it means you will be visited by misfortune

Seeing a rabbit cross behind you means bad luck is on its way

A rabbit running down the street means there will be a fire in the neighborhood

And, finally, the randomly useful camping tip …

When sitting around a campfire, saying “white rabbit” will make the smoke go in another direction

Regardless.

Some curmudgeonly Christian with far too much time on his hands wrote a fairly long detailed <but interesting> diatribe … using far far too many exclamation points … on why he doesn’t celebrate Easter as a Christian. While I could argue that he misses the real point of Easter … it does make for interesting reading: http://www.faithfulword.com/tracts/Easter_Errors.pdf

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